


Inner Strife #3: Forgive Me

by B_eden



Series: Inner Strife [3]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Abuse, Confusion, Fear, Feels, Fighting, Gay, Happy Ending, I won’t hurt you more than you can handle don’t worry, Incest, Intense, Jealousy, M/M, Rough Sex, Sburb was just a game, Stridercest - Freeform, Trust, fear fetish, fulfilling, no sburb session, striffing, trust me - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-18
Updated: 2019-01-18
Packaged: 2019-10-12 05:32:12
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,552
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17461541
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/B_eden/pseuds/B_eden
Summary: Dave and Bro have been fighting...or rather...not speaking at all. Dave is almost ready to break down and call Bro after he leaves without even saying goodbye when Bro’s forgotten phone rings from the futon. Dave finds text messages from a woman and his heart breaks sending him into a blind rage about the time Bro walks back in the front door.





	Inner Strife #3: Forgive Me

**Author's Note:**

> Again...I'm sorry if the italics won't work when I copy and paste these stories in here from my computer. If it seems like they're suddenly talking to themselves that's why it's not italicized. Sorry if it's distracting.
> 
> If you wanna know more about me as a writer and a person, (plz follow I get so lonely) you can follow my:
> 
> Blog: https://caspercrowblog.wordpress.com  
> Twitter: https://twitter.com/CrowCasper  
> Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/writercaspercrow

Dave had confessed his feelings for Bro on his eighteenth birthday. Things had gotten hot and heavy. Things had changed after that, even more so than Dave had dared to hope they would. Striders, however, were still Striders. It was clear Bro had something on his mind, but there was no way he was about to talk about his feelings.

 

Dave had plenty of guesses about what could be bothering him that were probably close to the truth, but like any unhealthy absence of communication, there inevitably came insecurities on both sides. In the past, if Dave had done something wrong, he would learn about it with a brutal strife on the roof. He was sure he would have preferred that to this week-long silence.

 

Dave cursed. He had been getting fed up with Bro’s behavior lately and had been short with him when they were forced to speak to talk about food or bills. How was that helping anything at all? Should he break down and demand that Bro talk to him, or would that be too uncool for Bro stomach? Dave didn’t want a return to the violence between them, but he was running out of chill. 

 

Dave slid his headphones down around his neck and stared at his wall. He could feel the vibrations of Bro’s radio thumping from just the other side. Bro was so close, yet he was an eternity away. Dave caught his weight on his hands against the wall and rested his forehead there. Bro regretted it; Dave just knew he must regret fucking him when Dave had shocked him with his confession by cramming their lips together. He was disgusted with Dave and had only been trying to spare Dave’s feeling by getting physical with him while trying to comfort Dave’s panic attack.

 

Shut up! Dave commanded himself. There’s no way Bro would do something he didn’t want to. He had bruised Dave, thrown him down the stairs, sliced up his body, and humiliated him in every way he could think of over the years. Why in the fuck would he think twice about rejecting Dave if he didn’t return the feelings? No. Bro was acting like this because he did return the feelings. 

 

That didn’t make things any easier for Dave to accept. This could mean that, if Bro couldn’t come to terms with their relationship inside his mind, he might keep him at a distance for the rest of their lives. 

 

Dave’s attention prickled when Bro’s stereo clicked to silence shortly followed by Bro’s bedroom door opening. Dave sucked in a breath to rouse his courage. He needed to put a stop to this. He had to confront him. He reached for the door handle, but his spirits dropped into his converse shoes when he heard the front door slam. When he opened his door to an empty, quiet house, it mirrored the hollow feeling in his chest.

 

Dave swallowed back his irritation over Bro leaving without even giving him a head-nod of acknowledgment. It’s not like he owed it to him or something. 

 

Dave shivered as he sensed something different in the air. A quick glance around confirmed what was off. There were no smuppets all over the place. That was a first. Bro had fucking put them back in his room as if he’d suddenly developed some kind of polite awareness of how awkward it was for them to be everywhere. Dave didn’t know how to process the air around him without the feeling of being watched. His whole life he had hated it, been creeped out as hell, but something about it had always made a part of him feel safe; like Bro was there to see him.

 

“Oh, god...” He scrunched his fingers in his shirt. “I’m alone.” He gulped in oxygen, but it just didn’t feel like it was reaching his bloodstream. It felt like the Earth had been yanked out from beneath him and he was floating out in space watching helplessly as the planet drifted away in front of his fingertips. “S-save me-” He hiccupped before turning back toward his room with a clouded mind. 

 

He screamed and fell back when he saw Lil’ Cal suspended over his door. Even as his back hit the futon in his retreat, he found himself babbling thank-you’s to no one in particular. “Jesus, I am so fucked up.” He gasped for breath as he was cornered into admitting a part of him liked, even needed, to be stalked by Bro’s weird possessed creations.

 

He finally gathered himself enough to return to his room. He decided he would talk to Bro when he got back home. Now all he had to do was wait. Dave tried to distract himself by talking to his friends, but that didn’t work, especially when John was nowhere to be found. He tried to write some rhymes or mix some phat beats, but he couldn’t keep his mind from wondering. He killed some time on his skateboard and tried to convince himself to take some pictures for his photography journal. He was just about go back into the building when he heard a high pitched, doofy giggle and turned to see a guy in a blue hoodie coming toward him.

 

“Dave!”

 

John? “Yo!” Dave’s spirits lifted for the first time in a week as John ran at him full speed. Egbert dropped the prop replica of the giant hammerlike weapon he’d used in that videogame they’d played together years ago and jumped into his arms like a princess. “What are you doing here?”

 

“Dad and I are on vacation and I convinced him to pass through town! I wanted it to be a surprise! Are you surprised, Dave?!”

 

“Word.” Dave lowered him to the ground a little too gently before reaching for his skateboard and motioning for Egbert to follow him inside.

 

“I can’t stay very long.” He glanced down to his watch when they reached Dave’s apartment, still grinning ear-to-ear. He galloped into Dave’s room full of childlike wonderment to explore his friend’s personal belongings, and Dave was almost able to swallow his angst for a time.

 

Dave still found himself listening attentively for the door and glancing down at his phone to see if he’d missed any texts. He was grateful that he was forced to keep his laughter in check to retain his cool aura as Egbert prattled on about everything that had happened since they’d spoken the day before. He kept juggling the prop hammer and Dave was almost impressed that he was managing not to slam it into his own head. 

 

John inevitably glanced down to his watch. Egbert’s shoulders sank. “Aw, I think it’s getting close to time for me to leave.”

 

“It’s cool, man. Maybe you can swing back by on your way back through.”

 

His eyes lit up. “Hey, yeah! Maybe I can stay for a few days or something and take a bus back?” His eyes shifted insecurely until Dave agreed that he would want him to stay. He was so carefree. So innocent. So sure that he was loved in his life. It was almost contagious. 

 

Dave nodded toward the bathroom when John asked which direction to go and then focused down to his phone. Still nothing. He stared at the screen for several heartbeats as he made the decision to text Bro about dinner. It was a simple enough excuse to talk to him and test the waters to see if he would acknowledge him. His thumbs were hovering over the keypad when he heard the tell-tale sounds of a phone ringing from the living room. 

 

A quick inspection showed that John was indeed still in the bathroom and it was Bro’s phone left forgotten on the futon. He stared at the device until it stopped ringing. When no one answered the caller, they decided to text. He heard several alerts and clucked his tongue when it became apparent that there was no lock screen. He wondered if it was Bro looking for his own phone, so he picked it up without thinking and viewed the text.

 

His heart stopped.

 

It was clearly from a woman. 

 

A very satisfied woman who didn’t know shit about spelling. 

 

A woman who had enjoyed herself last night very much. 

 

She wanted to know when they could do it again.

 

The phone slid from his hand as a mixture of pain and rage washed over him. It was at that unfortunate moment that Bro’s keys turned the lock on the front door.

 

Bro could immediately sense something was off when he stepped through the threshold. Dave’s little friend stepped out of his room with a stupid giant hammer and a goofy grin searching his pockets and talking to Dave, but Dave wasn’t there. John stopped in confusion as he scanned the living room to find himself alone. Then he squeaked when his eyes settled on Bro.

 

“Oh, h-hi, Mr. Strider-”

 

But Bro’s attention was on the electricity in the air; the shadows in the room. He felt Dave coming a mile away as he slashed his sword through the back cushion of the futon just as Bro sidestepped the attack. John fell back against the wall with wide, concerned eyes as he watched Bro’s expressionless features. A katana just freaking appeared in the elder Strider’s hand right in time to block the cold steel that slammed against it with Dave’s next strike.

 

Dave attacked relentlessly as Bro moved mostly on the defensive. 

 

“Dave!” John called out helplessly as he tried to make sense of what he was seeing. This wasn’t how family was supposed to act. He’d known that the brothers striffed, and that things got intense sometimes, but he’d had no idea it was anything like what he was trying to keep up with in front of his eyes now. He whimpered as he tried his best to dodge furniture and random objects as the Strider brothers destroyed their living room.

 

Dave knew that Bro had always warned him of keeping his attachments away from his battles, but it had never really sank in until he saw Bro make a move toward his faultless and wide-eyed best friend. All John’s air was pushed from his lungs as Dave crammed him back against the wall and stood protectively in front of him. John’s terrified gaze was drawn above their heads to where Dave’s sword was still blocking Bro’s sword from coming down on them.

 

Both Striders would have normally made their next move long before the heartbeats that stretched out at that moment, but Dave was in shock and he couldn’t take his eyes off the sadistic smirk tugging at the corner of Bro’s mouth. Bro was relishing the moment that he’d made Dave’s heart jump right out of his chest. Shit just got real.

 

Dave commanded his voice to remain steady. “Roof. Now.”

 

Bro’s face tilted down ever so slightly. It drew Dave’s attention to John’s fingers dinging into his hips as he clung to him while wedged against the wall. He didn’t have to look over his shoulder to know that John was crying. He could hear the pitiful exhales right against his neck and feel John quaking against him. 

 

Bro’s hands tightened on his sword. Dave didn’t know if it was another threat to John or if Bro’s adrenaline was stopping his ability to disguise his jealousy over the unintentionally intimate touch, but he gave a simple curt nod before he goddamn disappeared from right in front of their eyes.

 

“Motherfucker...” Dave growled as the front door slowly began to fall closed from where Bro had moved with godlike speed toward the stairwell.

 

“Dave, don’t go!” John pleaded, his fingers slipping from Dave’s shirt sleeve as he moved away from him. Dave whirled around when John screeched about something. He almost dropped his sword to find that Lil’ Cal was dangling harmlessly against John’s back with his plush arms tucked around his neck. He ripped the puppet away from him as if the doll itself might hurt him. 

 

“Dave don’t go! Please!” John repeated as Dave’s mouth set in a line of determination.

 

It was no use. “Go back to your dad, John. Everything’s okay.” Dave was out the door and heading to the roof with Cal tucked under his arm.

 

John was far slower in reaching the roof. He shielded his eyes from the red glow of the setting sun as he tried to zero in on any of the rapid movements along the concrete foundation. He gasped as he caught sight of the elder Strider as Bro flew down, seemingly from the sky, and Dave barely managed to divert the attack to slide off his sword. 

 

The man was completely terrifying. How did Dave ever manage to survive this? John shivered as he watched helplessly. Dave was angry. He was persistent in his attacks. 

 

Dave was losing. 

 

It was clear that Dave was losing, no matter how impassioned he was in their deadly tango. 

 

“Mr. S-s-s-strider...” John gulped. “Stop!”

 

Dave’s back hit the ground and he raised his sword to block a blow that didn’t come. Instead, as if considering John’s plea, or perhaps taunting Dave with it, Bro stood looking down at him with a sickening lack of expression. His sword dangled at his side as if he didn’t even need to bother holding it at the ready.

 

“Dave don’t!” John begged as Dave pushed to his feet and lunged toward his brother. John’s tears flowed freely, unashamed, as he watched Bro kick Dave’s feet out from under him. Dave went skidding onto his side. “Please, you guys! Please!”

 

Bro’s voice was low as he teased him. “I think we’re scaring your little friend, Dave.” His next actions proved he didn’t give the slightest fuck that Dave’s friend was having a nervous breakdown. 

 

“Stop!” John cried again. “Stop for the love of god!” Bro went at Dave hard and merciless. “Mr. Strider! This isn’t right! This isn’t right!” John insisted. 

 

Dave had no way of knowing that he was hearing John’s warning voice. The next thing he knew his sword was clattering just out of reach and he was rolling over just in time to throw his hands up. He was confused when he heard what sounded like a squeaky toy. When he saw John’s silhouette standing over him around his arms, he dropped them in panic. Oh, god, had Bro just ran him through? Surely to god Bro had noticed the body language that Dave had missed that said the kid was going to move to defend him! 

 

Dave scrambled up onto his hands so that he could peer around John’s hunched shoulders. The boy’s face was turned away from the view of the man looming over him in height. His shoulders were raised all the way to his ears and his arms were outstretched. His goddamn fake hammer was resting against the side of Bro’s knee. That’s what had caused the squeaking noise. The flat of Bro’s sword was resting gently on top of one of John’s shoulders, but the boy didn’t have the courage to investigate if he’d been cut. 

 

Dave was humbled. In this position, had Bro gone through with his attack, John would have saved his life at the sacrifice of his own. Had John had a real weapon to take out Bro’s knee he might have even managed to buy Dave a few seconds to think fast and run his enemy through around his body while he was distracted with dealing a killing-blow to John.

 

“Am I dead? AmIdeadamIdeadamIdead? Oh, god ohgodohgod...” John was a braver motherfucker than he looked. Dave knew this, and Bro even acknowledged it with a quick glance down to the damn squeaky toy pressed against his knee. 

 

Dave should have been grateful, but he was even more infuriated than he had started off. He dragged John down to the ground next to him with a hand on his hoodie before fluidly rolling to retrieve his sword. Things moved even faster then. John didn’t ask for them to stop again. Instead Bro and Lil Cal darted along the building defending and attacking two opponents. 

 

Dave found his clothing being carved away from him too often as Bro used John’s yelps to distract him, harmlessly nudging and tripping the boy to pull more noises from him as he dutifully continued to get back up.

 

“Goddammit, John! Get out of here before you get hurt!” Dave snapped breathlessly.

 

“No! I don’t know what’s going on here, Dave, but -OH SHIT I DON’T WANNA DIE-but this is- NOT OH GOD OH GOD- not okay! You’re gonna kill each other!” He yipped as Dave diverted Bro’s sword just short of a two-inch knick to his blue hoodie.

 

“Bro! Don’t you dare put a fucking scratch on him!” They were getting dangerously close to the edge of the building. 

 

Dave was eternally grateful when Bro stopped cold as John’s inexperienced legs tangled sending him tumbling toward the ledge. Dave didn’t think as he leapt onto the step-up and kicked against the side of the stairwell wall to put him close enough to grab John’s hood. He sent John sliding in the opposite direction toward safety, but he realized too late, as his stomach dropped right to his feet, that he was falling. The wall he’d pushed against was just out of reach. He released his sword and his fingers grasped fruitlessly for something solid that just wasn’t there.

 

Dave was falling to his death from the top of a skyscraper. 

 

He didn’t have time to panic as his eyes settled helplessly on the orange clouds that should be above him but were now in front of him. He didn’t have time to acknowledge that the heel of his converse was falling back into thin air. He almost had a second to mourn over how he was in the process of traumatizing John for life by dying in front of him, but in the end the only thing that really escaped past his suddenly mercifully empty mind was Bro’s name on his lips.

 

Whether it was a plea for help, an apology, some kind of confession, a prayer, or all of those things, he wasn’t sure. All he knew for sure was that he was falling one second, and the next Bro’s arm was wrapped underneath his back with his lips pressed against his.

 

John did unexpectedly well ignoring the shock of what he was seeing as he clasped both hands against Bro’s wrist. Bro had pulled open the door of the staircase and crammed his sword into the wood to have something to hang onto. He had then ran the weight of his body against a large metal antenna, bending it and sending it crashing down to lean out past the edge of the building. That had given one of his feet something to land on when he hadn’t thought twice about stepping off the side of a fucking skyscraper to go after everything he held dear in his life. 

 

He seemed to have a sturdy grip against the sword and perfect balance against the ledge and the antenna, but John wasn’t taking any chances. His entire body shook as he clung onto Bro’s arm for added support. 

 

Holy god in heaven Bro was the smoothest asshole in all of existence. Dave’s arms snaked up around Bro’s shoulders because they had to, to help save his own life. He tried to convince himself of this, but Bro was already pulling him back to sturdy ground without any assistance from Dave. John didn’t release him even when Bro stepped back onto the concrete and turned to dip Dave in the opposite direction. 

 

Bro’s mouth was still firmly in place on Dave’s lips even as Bro allowed John to crash against his other side and sob into his sweat-soaked shirt. John was desperately seeking the reassurance of any father figure within reach. Bro absently rested his free hand on John’s head as the boy cried his heart out. John’s legs failed him and he slid down to cling onto the elder Strider’s leg.

 

Dave was motionless and completely helpless to do anything except feel the relief radiating from Bro’s heart right up through his head and down into the contact of their skin. He was close enough to see Bro’s eyes screw shut behind his shades for several heartbeats as he pressed their mouths together more roughly. It was almost as if the kiss was an accusation; calling Dave out for all the things he’d just put him through that he didn’t understand. Then Dave was falling again, only about a foot and a half this time, and John’s body collapsed against him. 

 

Bro had absconded.

 

“Good lord that was intense, Dave!” John held up his quaking hands as if he needed to prove it. “You saved me! You-you almost fell off the building!” 

 

“I noticed.” Dave exhaled. Oh god, did he feel tears against his cheeks? He wiped at them discretely but didn’t think fast enough not to sniffle.

 

“Is it always like that?”

 

“No. I’m mad at him.” Dave huffed. He didn’t notice he was touching John until his fingers had already feathered against a tiny concrete burn on his arm. He was thankful his sunglasses were hiding his eyes as he took inventory of his vulnerable friend. There was barely a scratch on him; only the single wound he’d given himself by tripping around clumsily. His hoodie was rather dirty and sliced in several places, however, each one an independent threat Bro had made to disturb him. Each tear in the fabric was a place he could have broken the skin.

 

“You...you started that?” Egbert didn’t flinch away from the touch because he didn’t have the damaged psyche that Dave struggled with. He was completely confident his friend meant him no harm. “On purpose?”

 

“S’right.”

 

“He...uh...he kissed you, Dave! Father figures aren’t, uh, aren’t supposed to do it like that, you know?”

 

“Yeah. I know. That’s my fault too.” Dave sat up. “Maybe don’t tell anyone about that.”

 

“Oh, s-sure. Okay!” He nodded. “I mean...were you...okay with that? You seemed to like it, so, I kind of assumed it’s not...one of those...bad situations?”

 

“It’s cool, John. It’s all cool. Relax.”

 

“Right! Of course! I’m chill. I’m so chill, Dave,” he promised. “I’ll, uh, tell my dad all this is from us skateboarding.” He motioned down to his ripped and dirtied clothing. “Then he won’t try to be too nosey about me coming back later.” It was adorable that he was still concerned with his father’s permission even though he was of age to do what he pleased.

 

“Wait, what?” Dave stopped himself from rattling his head. “You’ll still come back?”

 

“Of course, buddy!” He sounded a little more than unstable when his voice was shaking so hard from adrenaline while he was still being so upbeat and friendly.

 

Dave didn’t blame him for hurrying away after that. Dave, however, was still angry. Maybe not as murderous as he’d been before, but Bro was playing with his goddamn heart! He was hot then cold; all reassuring touch in one moment and then screwing whores in the next. The words from the text kept running through his head as he stumbled down the hallway after seeing John off to the exit of the building.

 

Dave barely held himself up as he balanced in the doorway. He slammed the door behind him before falling against the futon in his initial attempt to propel himself toward Bro’s room.

 

“You’d better fucking be here!” He warned as he fell against Bro’s door. It wasn’t locked, and he found Bro sitting at his desk fast forwarding through surveillance footage of their apartment trying to find out just what had pissed Dave off so bad. Or maybe he was trying to see if Dave had cheated on him with John. What a hypocrite!

 

Bro stood up with an unreadable expression and moved as if he was going to walk right past him. Dave showed him that wasn’t going to happen by punching him in the jaw. He immediately regretted it when Bro barely budged beneath the assault. He froze with his face turned slightly away and his sunglasses askew.

 

Dave swallowed loudly as he realized with a sinking in his stomach that he had no fight left in him; yet he’d just initiated a continuation to their strife with a sucker punch. Bro never reacted well to Dave landing a blow on him.

 

Dave’s blood went cold when the older man finally moved to respond to him. He slid his sunglasses from his face but, holy shit the glasses were coming off, Dave didn’t watch where he tossed them. He didn’t even have time to scream before a gloved hand grabbed his throat hard. He suddenly found himself shoved against Bro’s bedroom wall with enough force to send his sunglasses flying and knock out the last of the weakened breaths his aching lungs were trying to hold in. 

 

Trying to avoid the piercing burn of Bro’s unguarded eyes, Dave’s attention was drawn to the bright trail of blood dripping down Bro’s lip. Bro was gritting his teeth. Fuck. Dave almost blacked out with the confirmation that Bro was losing out to his temper enough for expression to break through his carefully constructed barrier of indifference. 

 

Dave had been riding a high of adrenaline for too long and he was now left with nothing to pad his nerves from feeling every broken bone that was about to come his way. His eyes widened in terror as Bro drew back a large fist.

 

And hesitated.

 

His teeth gnashed and his lip curled. He readied himself again and Dave’s entire body seized up.

 

He hesitated a second time, but it was clear to Dave that his brother was fighting a losing battle. He didn’t dare to speak. All he could do was wait as he watched the cogs turn in his brother’s exposed eyes. He’d instinctively glanced up to try and read his intentions and find out just how royally fucked he was, and now Dave was a deer caught in the headlights. He couldn’t look away. Couldn’t move. Couldn’t scream.

 

But Bro screamed, and his fist came down. Dave turned his head away and shuddered at the sound of the older man’s fist crashing through the drywall only inches away from his head. He wasn’t sure he was out of hot water yet, though, because Bro immediately tore his fist from the hole and repeated the action again and again until Dave realized Bro wasn’t the only one screaming any longer.

 

“Why, Dave?!” He demanded throughout the demolition of one of his favorite posters. “Why?!”

 

Dave didn’t chance moving one inch, even as several sheathed swords clattered from their place over their heads and rained down on them. “The woman, Bro! I know about her! I saw it!”

 

“What the fuck are you talking about?! What woman?!” When Dave didn’t answer him right away, he roughly cupped his chin and yanked his head to face him. “Answer me, goddammit!”

 

Dave was humiliated to realize he was sobbing uncontrollably. “Y-your ph-phone-”

 

Bro heard enough to process that he could skip trying to pull the rest from his broken little brother if he could only get a hold of the electronic culprit. “Where’s my goddamn phone?” He jolted Dave’s body harshly when he didn’t answer. “Phone!”

 

“Th-the couch-” Dave gasped when Bro fisted his hands into his shirt and dragged him along, tripping and stammering, to the futon.

 

Bro shoved him face forward over the back of the futon and leaned down over his back to snatch up the phone. Dave shivered as Bro held him in place with a combination of a hand on his back and his crotch trapping him there against his backside. He sure wasn’t subtle about asserting his dominance.

 

Bro mumbled to himself as his thumb worked quickly to investigate his offense. “See what the fuck this is...” His voice trailed off and the only sound in the apartment for several heartbeats was Dave’s heartbroken whimpers. When he next spoke, his irritated voice was somewhat more calm. “This bitch?” He leaned back down over Dave and crammed the incriminating text in front of his face.

 

Dave squeezed his eyes shut and nodded. “She’s c-clearly familiar with you!”

 

“She is.” Bro spat.

 

“Sounds like she’s talked to you before!”

 

“She has. Plenty of times.” Bro dug his palm into Dave’s back to bruise him. “Let me ask you something.” Dave squirmed against the pain. “You trust me?”

 

“W-what?” Dave’s voice was too high-pitched.

 

“You heard me.”

 

“I d-don’t understand-”

 

“The fuck you mean you don’t understand? It’s a simple question.” 

 

“T-trust you how?”

 

Bro decided to narrow the wide field. He pressed his lower half against the cleft of Dave’s ass, and he gasped when it became clear to him that Bro was highly aroused. “You trust me not to rip your pants down and rape the life outta you right now while you’re hating my guts? Answer the question!” He demanded when Dave began to stammer.

 

“Yes-yes!”

 

“So, you trust me with your body.” Bro’s hand tangled in Dave’s hair and he yanked him back to stand flush against him. Dave shivered at the sharp echo of a sword as Bro seemingly manifested a cold blade from thin air and rested the biting metal against his throat. He forced his head back too far for comfort. “Do you trust me with your life?”

 

“I d-don’t know-”

 

“Bullshit.” Bro murmured right against his ear. “On the roof, even when I was in the middle of kicking your ass, you knew, Dave. You knew I had you when you were falling as soon as you felt me touch you. It didn’t cross your mind for a second to struggle and keep fighting with me then. You knew I wouldn’t take any chance of dropping you. Do you trust me with your life, kid?” He glided the flat of the blade against his throat and Dave hissed in trepidation.

 

“Yes,” he whispered as his lids fluttered closed.

 

“So, do you trust me with your heart? Think about it.” He lowered the sword to their side and then allowed it to fall from his grip.

 

Dave swallowed when he could safely move his throat again. “You n-never said I could trust you w-with my heart. I never asked...I...we don’t talk. I didn’t know if it was clear that I feel...that I want...want something...exclusive-”

 

“If you didn’t think it should be clear to me then why are you so pissed?” When Dave didn’t answer, he continued. “I have to say it? Fine. You can trust me with your heart, kid. Does hearing it make it any easier for you?”

 

“Y-yeah.” Dave caught himself on the back of the futon when Bro released him and he collapsed forward, but Bro still didn’t move away from him. He remained trapped. 

 

Bro guided him to turn toward him and Dave found himself leaning back out of instinct to avoid the aggression he’d triggered. He whispered almost too low for him to hear. “I’m in over my head.” And he was. Never had he felt so emotionally and physically vulnerable. He couldn’t bear this situation. It was too confusing.

 

“I know you are.” Dave wasn’t sure why Bro’s patronizing tone still managed to sound comforting to him in a way. “And I’m about to save you; if you’ll trust me.” He lifted his hands to Dave’s face and Dave unconsciously leaned into the caress of his fingers on one side.

 

Dave’s nod was almost nonexistent. “Please...” 

 

He wanted Bro to make this pain go away. He was out in space again watching his whole world float impossibly far away from reach. He couldn’t see any way out of this any more than he could imagine how Bro could possibly stop him from plummeting off the side of the building.

 

“Look at me,” he coaxed quietly as he framed Dave’s face and waited for him to force his lids open. 

 

Dave’s stomach flipped as hard as it had when he’d realized there was no longer any ground beneath him on the roof. The older man’s eyes were intense. He was still annoyed; maybe hurt, and possibly vengeful, but he was more serious than he’d ever been; more open than he’d ever been. 

 

“Kid, you’re the only one.” He flattened his palms against Dave’s cheeks and damn if feeling the leather against his skin didn’t make him want to believe the very words his insecurities were screaming at him to ignore. “Dave.” Bro knew the tears were going to come even before Dave began to blink rapidly to try and stop them. “Trust me. You’re the only one.” He didn’t break eye contact. “As soon as you gave the first hint that you wanted this, everyone else was dead to me. Dave,” he repeated as Dave clenched his eyes shut. “Kid. Look at me. You listening?” Dave nodded as the warm streams streaked down his face. There was a lump in his throat that was threatening to strangle him. “That text, kid. That was a goddamn drunk text from Lalond.” 

 

Lalond. Rose’s mom. Oh, god.

 

“She does that shit all the time.” Bro continued, waiting for Dave’s chest to slow its pained but relieved convulsions. “It’s nothing to me. She just got the wrong number and thought she was talking to someone else. That’s all. That’s what happened here.”

 

Dave had no way to stop it. He was going to ugly cry while Bro stared straight into his face. Bro had done it. He had fixed it. He had saved him again; plucked him right out of the vast vacuum of space and pulled him back into the warmth of his own life-sustaining world. 

 

Dave was convinced of it now; Bro Strider was some kind of fallen god with strange otherworldly abilities. And he didn’t care how he did it; how he spelled puppets to life or moved faster than light could follow him. He didn’t care how he managed not to age more than a few weeks every several years. He managed to be both the angel of Dave’s salvation and the demon of his worst nightmares all at once. He didn’t have to understand it because all he had to do was trust it; because everything Bro did was for him.

 

Dave’s voice was almost inaudible through his trembling lips. “I’m sorry. Fuck, I’m sorry-” He was cut off when Bro crushed their mouths together. When Bro’s tongue didn’t hesitate to force its way past his lips the electricity shot straight between his legs. Dave pulled away to take in a breath and pleaded with him. “Bro, don’t hate me.”

 

“I’m not gonna hate you,” he murmured, distracted by the way Dave had unconsciously started to push his hips against him in seek of contact. “I’m gonna fuck you.”

 

Dave pulled back in trepidation when Bro moved to kiss him again. “But not hate-fuck me, though, right?”

 

“Maybe.” Bro growled when Dave hoped in response as if he meant to retreat from him over the side of the futon. His arms reflexively moved to trap him there. “Probably.” 

 

Dave gulped audibly and his hand clamped heavily onto Bro’s shoulder as his knees gave out. Rather than catch him, Bro grasped the end of Dave’s shirt and pulled up so that Dave managed to sink right out of his shirt as he went down. Bro’s breath caught when Dave looked up at him from his knees with a bewildered expression over how he’d wound up in the position. 

 

Bro was still frowning, and the implications of that emotion aimed down at him terrified Dave. He tentatively rested his hands on Bro’s legs just below his knees to test the waters. Bro only stared down at him with the same aura that said he was still trying to contain his temper. Dave slowly gluided his hands up his thighs, raising up to his knees so he could more easily reach his belt. Bro didn’t stop him from unbuckling the belt, but Dave’s fingers still hesitated over the button as he waited for Bro to take the lead. 

 

Bro didn’t budge other than his shoulders moving with the effort of his breaths. Dave felt completely seen by his merciless stare. Thank god the man wore those sunglasses every second of the day or Dave would never have the nerve to stand in front of him. Kneeling actually felt much more natural. A shudder tingled down his spine as he acknowledged this to himself, but the wave seemed to pass all the way through his hands and into Bro’s body when Dave managed to tug the button free. 

 

The heaviness of Bro’s attention felt like a dare. It was all Dave could do to muster the courage to hold his stare as he slowly dragged the zipper downwards, but once he pressed the cloth open, he found it much easier to reassure himself Bro wanted him; badly. He pulled him free from his boxers and enjoyed the way Bro’s jaw slackened when he wrapped his hand around the hard length.

 

Dave exhaled on his sensitive skin, but the older man mastered himself from reacting. Dave wanted, he needed, for Bro’s expression to soften toward him. He was sure their intimate encounter was going to be rough and frightening if he didn’t manage to placate him somehow. He inched the head of Bro’s cock just past his lips and his lids fell closed gratefully when a pleased hiss escaped the older man. He took him deeper, and then deeper still, flattening is tongue against the underside and twisting his hand further down his shaft where he just couldn’t manage to fit its entirety into his small mouth. He ached for Bro to touch him, but it seemed the man was determined to leave him hanging and scare the life out of him.

 

When he finally hit the back of his throat and then hollowed his cheeks to suckle him, Bro fell forward and caught himself on the back of the futon just behind Dave’s head. Dave didn’t mean to whimper when Bro moved, but his anxiety-riddled mind was swimming with visions of his brother losing control of his desire and letting loose on Dave in a way he was in no way ready to experience. 

 

Bro straightened his back once more and aimed his face back down to watch him. The unfiltered heat in that gaze caused Dave to moan around him and drop one of his hands to palm himself through his jeans. His eyes shifted to a bright red stain on Bro’s shirt, but before he could process that Bro had been injured during their strife, Bro noticed the motion of Dave’s hand between his legs. His hand flew out to yank Dave to his feet by one arm.

 

Dave stopped himself from apologizing reflexively as Bro dug his fingers into his arms and stared into his eyes until Dave sank down several inches. He whirled around and shoved Dave hard toward the hallway. “Go.” 

 

Dave reached the hallway but became too fearful to go through Bro’s bedroom doorway. He turned to find Bro was right on his heels. His hesitation must have angered him because he braced his hands on Dave’s bruised chest and slammed him roughly back against the wall. Dave didn’t have time to let loose more than a few curses before Bro captured his wrists in one hand and pressed them over his head. His mouth was forceful and insistent as he claimed him. Dave could taste his brother’s blood from where he’d split his lip when punching him before, but if it was causing Bro any discomfort, he didn’t show it.

 

Dave gasped in a breath when Bro pulled back and released him just enough to prepare to push him again. Dave couldn’t bear to feel the rough treatment, so when Bro pulled away, he leaned with him. He wrapped his arms around Bro’s shoulders and pressed his lips gently against Bro’s neck as he tried to hide there. 

His rapid breaths against Bro’s skin caused the man to falter so that instead of turning to shove him towards his bedroom they wound up rolling against the wall so that Bro’s back was now the one ripping at the posters behind him. Dave shivered at the feel of the leather gloves clutching against his bare shoulder blades as Bro’s head thunked heavily back against the wall to give him more access to his throat.

 

Dave didn’t waste any time opening his mouth against his salty skin and sucking like he was a vampire ready to goddamn sparkle in the sunlight. The fingers at his back hooked painfully so and Dave arched away from the abuse. They both groaned as the motion caused him to press their lower halves together. Bro’s hands dropped to Dave’s ass and squeezed hard. 

 

Dave called out and incidentally released Bro’s throat. He regretted losing the upper hand right away when Bro rolled them again and punished his mouth with another breath-stealing kiss. Dave forced his hands from clinging against Bro’s shirt in panic and instead began to pet his shoulders in an obvious plea for more gentle treatment. 

 

Bro tore his mouth away and gathered Dave’s wrists again. This time he whirled Dave to face the wall and held his arms against his back in a pained submission hold. Dave’s mouth opened to protest but he was cut off when Bro thrust against his backside causing him to moan instead.

 

“Bro, please-” His lungs refused to work when Bro yanked him away from the wall and aggressively guided him into his dark room. He tore at Dave’s pants and shoved him down onto the bed on is stomach. Dave’s chest ached with the intensity of his drumming heart as he felt the cool air against his ass and then his legs. “I’m sorry!” He babbled before Bro straddled him and snaked his hand around his throat to silence him.

 

“You scared?” Bro breathed against his cheek.

 

“Fuck, yeah, I am!” His voice wavered around Bro’s grip on his neck. He choked himself against the pressure when he realized he could feel Bro’s naked skin against him. When had he taken off his clothes? His massive erection prodded against him threateningly.

 

“Trust me,” Bro murmured as he nipped at Dave’s earlobe. “You trust me?”

 

“Yes.” Dave buried his face in the covers when Bro suddenly released him. His weight was gone, and the next thing Dave knew Bro hooked his arm underneath his hips and pulled him up onto his knees. His face heated as he felt the air on his exposed nether regions and his body tensed with trepidation at just how easily Bro could take him at that moment with no preparation or affection.

 

The older man growled as he stood back to look at him; raised and waiting and every hint in his body language begging him for reassurance. Dave bucked forward when he felt a cool, lubricated finger feather against his entrance. He was more than grateful that Bro was taking his time to work him into relaxing, but he was too insecure for words as he wondered why Bro wasn’t going to look at his face while screwing him. 

 

“Are you mad at me?” His arms shook as he forced himself to relax around the second finger now working on him.

 

“I’m pissed.” Bro confirmed and Dave flinched. “But not pissed at you.” He slid a hand onto Dave’s lower back and commanded himself to stroke him tenderly. He trailed a finger up the back of Dave’s thigh from his knee up to his spine and enjoyed the tremor than accompanied the touch.

 

Dave was encouraged then to appeal to his humanity. His voice was small. “Don’t hurt me, okay?” He felt like the worst kind of hypocrite being that Bro was still bleeding from several wounds Dave had inflicted on him. “Bro.” He swallowed heavily and pushed back against his fingers when Bro attentively brushed against the right place inside him. “Don’t...don’t hurt me.”

 

Dear, sweet god was Dave beautiful when he was exposed and begging him. “A’ight,” Bro hummed low in his vocal chords, but it wasn’t very convincing. 

 

His movements had slowed almost to a stop, so Dave wasn’t expecting it when he withdrew from his body and quickly hooked an arm around his waist. Dave braced to be taken but instead Bro flipped him over onto his back.

 

“Raise up.” 

 

Dave did as he was told, and Bro crammed a couple of pillows under him to raise his hips for better access to fuck him. He climbed between his legs. Dave was only half hard as his worried eyes searched Bro’s tense features for any sign of love. He remained unreadable as he sank down and hooked his arms beneath Dave’s legs. 

 

Dave didn’t know what he was expecting, but watching Bro take a dick in his mouth wasn’t on his list of possibilities. He watched himself disappear past Bro’s lips and his hips would have jerked up into the heat had Bro not thought ahead to hold him in place. “Ffffuuuuck...” Dave’s hands clawed at his sides searching for he didn’t know what until Bro guided his hands to his head. Bro’s hat tumbled to the side as Dave tangled his fingers in a head of hair that, up until a week or so ago, he had never dreamed he’d be allowed to touch at all.

 

The older man knew exactly when the tension was mounting enough for him to pull away. Dave bit his lip in frustration as he stopped himself from protesting. His hands drifted down to Bro’s shoulders and then his arms as he crawled up his body to face him. The anger still present caused Dave to sink down a few inches and raise his eyebrows in question. Dave wasn’t as discrete as he thought when his hands squeezed lightly against Bro’s solid arms to appreciate the definition.

 

Bro’s mood finally began to lighten as he took note of Dave’s shivering body and scared eyes. Dave just couldn’t take him at his word and understand he was irritated with the situation and not with Dave. He should probably feel guilty that he’d done this to the kid’s brain with years of abuse, keeping him on edge; keeping him guessing. Instead he felt a jolt of possessive satisfaction that he was the one to affect him so deeply. It kept Dave’s eyes forever on him, trying to understand him. He took pity on him and leaned in to kiss him carefully; thoughtfully, even as the tip of his cock prodded against him impatiently. 

 

When Dave finally began to melt down into the mattress, Bro reached down to guide himself inside him. He stopped after only a few inches and waited patiently for Dave to relax to him. Dave’s heavy-lidded eyes fluttered closed when Bro smoothed his gloves along his thin arms, pressing their hands out next to Dave’s head. He weaved their fingers together and held him down more protectively than aggressively this time, though the forceful body language wasn’t completely absent. He slid deeper into him and didn’t bother to keep his groan in check as he was engulfed in the tight warmth of his body.

 

Dave’s mouth fell open and his head tilted from side to side as he was stretched and filled. He almost leaned up with him when Bro raised to sit back on his heels, but Bro pressed a hand against his chest to still him. Dave’s breathing was labored as his eyes scanned down his brother’s shaped and toned body. Bro took a hold of Dave’s hips and slowly pulled out all but the tip of his cock. Then in a swift, firm buck of his hips he sheathed himself fully once again.

 

Dave was taking note of Bro’s many scars and trying to forget that the few fresh red hatchmarks scattered across him were because of him, but then Bro drove into him at just the right angle and he lost the ability to think. He didn’t have enough time to recover his senses before Bro repeated the methodic rhythm of slowy withdrawing before firmly driving into him over and over again. He felt like an offering with his abdomen arched up against the pillows. The obscene sound of flesh slapping against flesh made the pressure pool in the pit of his stomach.

 

“God, right there...don’t stop-”

 

“I wasn’t planning on it.” Bro watched his every twitch and heard his every unintentional mewl as he continued to thoroughly fuck him. His powerful hips slammed forward, taking him deep. Possessing him. Owning him.

 

“Oh, god, I’m gonna come-” Dave’s breath hitched and Bro increased his speed. “Fuck me, please, don’t stop fucking me, god, please! Bro I can’t hold it-”

 

“Don’t hold it.” Bro could feel Dave’s insides tightening around him. At the same time he could see all the muscles in Dave’s body seizing. Dave could feel his brother swelling painfully large inside him and, unable to take it anymore, he reached down to stroke himself. 

 

“That’s it, kid. L-let it go.” It was the stammer in Bro’s encouraging voice that finally pushed him over the edge. His back arched and he called Bro’s name without any shame. White spirals burst across his vision as he came hard, shooting up his chest almost as far as his neck. Just when he thought he had nothing more to give, Bro hooked his arms around him and pulled him up to straddle him as he sat back. This caused Dave’s weight to push Bro deep as the older man stilled and emptied himself into him.

 

“F-fuck, yeah! Oh, fuck, yesyesyesyes...” Dave flung his arms around his shoulders and wriggled down against what seemed like an endless stream of release. 

 

Bro kissed him, then, lapping his tongue against Dave’s to claim him on both ends at once. His pleased growl echoed around them, subconsciously alerting Dave that his mood was effectively changing from agitated to fulfilled. Dave tangled his limbs around the solid muscle and continued to chant his approval of what was happening inside him. His whole body was far too limp as Bro returned the embrace and held him in place.

 

“Thank you,” Dave whispered as they clung to each other in a sorry state of blood, sweat, and come.

 

Bro was about to ask what he was thanking him for when he followed Dave’s glance toward the giant hole in his bedroom wall. That had almost been Dave’s face. Bro pulled him closer and cupped the back of his head in his hand. What kind of guardian was he when his charge was thanking him for not crushing his eye sockets to powder? Shouldn’t that just be an understood curtosy between lovers? 

 

Bro swallowed heavily. “Don’t fight when you’re emotional. We talked about it a hundred times. Jesus, kid. You and your friend both almost went over the side of the building. You were able to get me a few times with passion and willpower alone, but you couldn’t think to use my wounds against me.” It made him sick to think what could have become of Dave had he picked a fight with someone who wasn’t in love with him. “And I lost it, and I knocked all those swords right into your hands over there, and you didn’t use them on me because you wore yourself the fuck out and couldn’t think anymore.”

 

“You saved me. I hurt you, and you saved me. You didn’t hurt me back.” Dave tightened his grip. “You didn’t hurt my friend or me even though I deserved it.”

 

“It was just a misunderstanding, kid. And now you know. You can trust me. Right?” 

 

Dave felt it was more than just not hurting him bad. He could have traumatized John and made him never come back or speak to Dave again. How did Bro manage to always think about what was best for him even when he was doing the worst to Bro?

 

“You like that kid a lot.” Bro noted. “You fucking him?”

 

Dave startled back to look at him. “No! John’s not gay.”

 

“Doesn’t have to be to want to fuck a Strider.”

 

“Dude, no. I’ve been too hung up on you ever sense I can remember to get a serious crush on someone else.” Dave tried not to swell with pride as he found himself in Bro’s position of giving reassurance. Though, admittedly, Bro was handling his questions much more smoothly than Dave had when he’d just reacted. “It’s just you.” Dave didn’t realize he was almost purring as Bro kept running his hand through his hair and scratching against his scalp. It was affecting his chill-voice.

 

“You realize he was willing to die for you today?” Bro was impressed with the kid’s loyalty. A part of him mourned that he couldn’t let people in enough to get any true friends of his own. People had always let him down. “Kid was scared shitless. He knew he didn’t have a chance in hell, but he still moved to help you.”

 

“Word.”

 

Bro thought for a minute before lowering Dave to the mattress and moving to the edge of the bed. “We should shower. Clean these wounds. Dress ‘em.” He gingerly tugged his glove away to expose a bruised and bloodied fist. “Come on.” He nodded toward the bathroom, and Dave only then realized he was inviting him to shower.

 

“Wait, like, together?”

 

“Yeah.” He turned his face away and pretended to pick pieces of drywall from the side table so that Dave wouldn’t see him smirk about the obvious excitement in Dave’s voice.

 

Dave’s shoulders finally relaxed. Bro didn’t seem mad anymore. 

 

They messed around in the shower before taking plenty of time to patch each other up. There was something unspoken in the air that both Striders understood as they sewed up the wounds they’d caused one another. They were fucked up. Very fucked up. It was also understood between them that neither one them gave a flying fuck. They said it in the way their eyes met in silent apology with each wound, and they said it with every kiss they were powerless to avoid.

 

They ate leftover takeout and watched TV. Dave rested back against Bro’s chest. He was intrigued when Bro dropped his hands to rest on Dave’s chest as he scrolled through his phone so that Dave could see everything he was doing on the screen. When he signed into an account, he made sure to slowly map out the password, completely aware that Dave could see it on the screen. He didn’t have to say it out loud. He was giving Dave permission to trespass into anything belonging to Bro that he may be curious about. 

 

He pulled up a page of old contacts, and Dave sucked in a breath as Bro heartlessly deleted one fling after another. When he reached nude pictures in the messages, he would maximize them to show him his conquests. Dave found that he wasn’t jealous. There was something about the intimacy of seeing Bro’s previously hidden life that had him in awe. 

 

“Wow. She’s pretty hot,” Dave had to admit on many of the pictures. He felt Bro shrug in halfhearted agreement before his thumbs brought him to the contact’s information and erased them from his memory. They had all been failing attempts to take his mind off of his goddamn little brother.

 

When he was finished with contacts he scanned through the images. It was more of the same...until it wasn’t. Dave’s eyes widened when Bro opened a folder with some boring, generic title to find that it was filled with pictures of Dave. Bro didn’t comment on how he could see Dave’s ears turning red with embarrassment. Some of the photos had been nabbed from Dave’s profile images, but many of them were candid pictures that Bro had skillfully snapped all with Dave completely unaware. There were so many pictures of him on the couch. His mind flashed back to how often he thought Bro’s eyes were on his phone across from him while they watched cheesy action movies out of irony, but his eyes had clearly been on Dave.

 

Dave fell asleep like that, feeling secure as Bro cleaned up his memory and adjusted his social media. The last thing he remembered was seeing Bro change a status to in-a-relationship before signing into Dave’s account to change the same setting. He distantly registered that Bro somehow had all his passwords. He was far too tired to worry over what he was going to tell people who asked him about his changed status. He’d think about it later. He sank into the darkness, lulled by the steady rise and fall of Bro’s chest behind him.


End file.
